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WAFL Round 2 PreviewThursday, March 21, 2013 - 4:00 PM - by Chris Pike

THERE are just the two matches in Round 2 of the 2013 WAFL season this weekend with West Perth looking to become the first team this year to get to two wins, and Subiaco, Peel and East Perth just out to get off the mark.

The round begins on Friday night when Subiaco takes on West Perth at Leederville's Medibank Stadium before at the same venue on Saturday, East Perth hosts Peel Thunder.

Claremont, East Fremantle, Perth, South Fremantle and Swan Districts all have the Round 2 bye.

SUBIACO v WEST PERTH – MEDIBANK STADIUM, FRIDAY 6.45PM  

Selected teams

West Perth couldn’t have started its season off in any better way than thrashing East Perth last Saturday, but Subiaco watched on and now will be ready to come out roaring to starts its 2013 campaign.

West Perth thumped East Perth by 75 points in last Saturday's derby at Arena Joondalup while Subiaco had the Round 1 bye.alt

Even though the Falcons will come into the game on just a six-day break after playing in the hot conditions last Saturday, they simply ran the Royals right off their legs and it's unlikely the slightly short break will have any kind of impact on Friday night's game.

Subiaco will be fresh and raring to go, though, there's no doubt about that in Jarrad Schofield's first match in charge of coach after the triple-premiership player, and AFL premiership winner with Port Adelaide replaced Chris Waterman coming into the 2013 season. Friday night's game.

Schofield has overseen a massive turnover in Subiaco's list over the summer and that will see David Madut, Nick Hay, Jarrod Kayler-Thomson, Ray Daniels, Ryan Herring and Brad McDonald all making their debuts for the club on Friday night.

Kayler-Thomson arrives after playing 108 games for Perth, Herring after 26 games for Peel and Daniels after four for Swan Districts while the other three are new faces.

Madut is an exciting 19-year-old ruckman who will have a big job up against Chris Keunen with Hay the 20-year-old younger brother of former Hawthorn star Jonathan, and McDonald is a 24-year-old recruit from the Penguin Football Club in Tasmania.

With six new faces plus a host of youngsters including Matthew Cullen, Daniel Leishman, Chris Deluca, Myles Smythe, Alliston 'Buddy' Pickett and Dom Sheed, it's an incredibly young Subiaco side and one that's even a far cry than the team that lost the 2011 grand final to Claremont.

Despite Subiaco's youth and vibrancy coming into the new season, West Perth is already up and running following last Saturday's huge win over East Perth.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the win over East Perth was the fact that there were terrific contributions from youngsters, experienced players and those in between alike.

Debutant Matthew Johnson kicked six goals while Dan Hunt and Michael Pettigrew were terrific in defence with Ray Bartholomew, Chris Keunen, Jay van Berlo, Shane Nelson, Steven Browne, Jordan Jones, Aaron Black and Andrew Strijk all outstanding also.

The West Perth team to face Subiaco on Friday night is even strengthened further with the return of last year's fairest and best winner, and West Coast rookie, Mark Hutchings.

Two players had to make room with the squad going down from 23 to 22 from last week, and to move aside for Hutchings. The two unlucky players are Marc Crisp and Trent Manzone.

 EAST PERTH v PEEL THUNDER – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.10PM

Selected teams

East Perth and Peel Thunder both made losing starts to their respective 2013 campaigns last Saturday and now will be desperate to bounce back this Saturday to avoid slipping to an 0-2 start .

East Perth went down to West Perth last Saturday by 75 points at Arena Joondalup having just kicked the one goal in the entire second half.

Peel was more competitive, but would have been just as disappointed to lose to Perth by 12 points despite having more scoring shots and plenty of opportunities to win the game particularly in the last quarter.

The game takes on extra significance as well considering that East Perth has a huge task against reigning premiers Claremont next week and Peel has the bye, so for the loser on Saturday it has the potential to spiral into a disastrous 2013 season that promised so much for both clubs.

East Perth loses former co-captain Michael Swan to a one-week suspension from the team that lost to West Perth last week with Tyson Rudd also losing his place in the side.

Brock Higgins, Mitch Howlett, Corey Hutchings and Lewis Wilson are all making a case to come into the Royals line-up. Higgins had 11 touches and 26 hit outs in the reserves last week, Howlett 24 disposals, Hutchings 11 touches and two goals, and Wilson 10 possessions.

East Perth won't have a mass of West Coast players at its disposal either with just Blayne Wilson and Cale Morton set to play. It will be an interesting situation for Wilson after he previously played 36 matches with Peel where he was drafted from.

Peel has made a host of changes to its team from the one that lost to Perth last Saturday with Drew Robinson, Mitch Green and Liam McKenna going out of the side.

Solid key defender Chris Luff returns with Ash Thornton back in after five goals in the reserves last week and Jamason Daniels also comes in after 24 disposals in the reserves as well. Fremantle midfielders Jesse Crichton and Hayden Crozier also come in for the Thunder.

That means that Peel will have the services of Peter Faulks, Tanner Smith, Jayden Pitt, Crichton, Tom Sheridan, Craig Moller, Crozier and Viv Michie from Fremantle to take on the Royals with.